Crypto industry has its swagger back—for better and worse

Good morning from Austin, where thousands of crypto devotees have braved storms and blazing heat to attend Consensus. The industry's biggest and longest-running conference, which can at times take on the feel of a religious revival, offers opportunities to schmooze and hear from prominent crypto names. And for a casual observer, Consensus offers a useful vibe check on an industry prone to wild swings in fortune.

Unsurprisingly, the vibe feels conspicuously upbeat compared to a year ago when crowds were thin and many attendees quietly confided to each other they were considering a pivot to AI. In practice, this means some of the more obnoxious elements have returned—though not to the level of Consensus 2018 in New York, when hucksters parked Lamborghinis outside the event and the halls were lined with booth babes and grifters offering "ICOs in a box."

This time around, Elon Musk's Cybertrucks have replaced Lambos as the attention-getting vehicle of choice for marketers. Meanwhile, one of the more conspicuous publicity stunts was a startup paying some poor fellow to march around around under the Texas sun in a suit wearing a Jamie Dimon wig and mask—and then staging a mock assault on him by memecoin characters.

Outside the event stood a giant "RFK for President" truck, while campaign staffers manned a booth instead—a reflection of both the election year and crypto's willingness to latch onto any candidate, no matter how squirrelly, who will talk up the industry. RFK himself is set to address the conference on Thursday.

The excesses aside, the overall sense of optimism was understandable. The crypto market has not only clawed back from the wave of frauds that almost sank it in 2022, but is riding a newfound wave of political legitimacy. This month has seen crypto notch once unthinkable political victories in Washington, D.C., and the sense is that the industry has not only withstood the relentless regulatory assaults of SEC chairman Gary Gensler and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but that it is on the cusp of defeating them.

And while crypto is still searching for its ever-elusive killer app, the optimists I spoke with pointed to signs that (yet again) it is just around the corner. Those signs included the rapid advancement of zero-knowledge proofs as well as the popularity of Coinbase's Base blockchain and, perhaps most significantly, the full-blown arrival of mainstream finance to the crypto world—a development that provides not only a big financial boost, but also a new element of stability and maturity that, just maybe, will tame the worst of crypto's wilder side. Finally, this Consensus marked the end of the Austin era as the conference, under new management, will take the show to Toronto and Hong Kong for 2025.

Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com